Portuguese scientist and politician (born 1964)
Elvira Maria Correia Fortunato
GOIH
(born 22 July 1964) is a Portuguese scientist and minister of science and technology. She is a professor in the Department of Materials Science at the
NOVA School of Science and Technology
and vice-rector of the
NOVA University Lisbon
. Fortunato is an innovator in the field of paper
electronics
, including
transistors
, memories,
sensors
, batteries,
displays
, antennas, and
solar cells
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
In 2022, Fortunato was appointed
Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education
in the
XXIII Constitutional Government of Portugal
as an
independent
, succeeding
Manuel Heitor
.
[4]
Early life
[
edit
]
Fortunato was born in
Almada
, and received her degree in
Materials Science
and
Physics
in 1987 from the
NOVA School of Science and Technology
and continued her graduate studies at the same university. In 1991, Fortunato received her master's degree in Semiconductor Materials and in 1995, her Ph.D. in
Microelectronics
and
Optoelectronics
. In 2005, she obtained her habilitation in the same field.
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
Fortunato joined the faculty at the
NOVA School of Science and Technology
in 1995 and became director of the Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodeling, and Nanofabrication in 1998. She led a research team that achieved acclaim for inventing the paper transistor in 2008.
[6]
Fortunato is an elected member of Academy of Engineering, European Academy of Sciences,
Lisbon Academy of Sciences
, and
Academia Europaea
.
[7]
She is Associate Editor of
Rapid Research Letters Physica Status Solidi
, Co-Editor of
Europhysics Letters
, and an Editorial Advisory Board Member of
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
.
[5]
[8]
She has been the vice-rector of
NOVA University Lisbon
since 2017 and is in charge of coordinating the university's research.
[9]
In 2022, she was part of a group of 27 inspiring women from Europe, elected by the current French Presidency of the European Union.
[10]
In March 2022, she joined the Government of the Portuguese Republic as Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education.
[10]
Research
[
edit
]
Fortunato's research focuses on exploring new electronic active materials that are
environmentally friendly
and compatible with
flexible electronics
. This led to the invention of the first paper transistor in 2008, which used paper, a low-cost and flexible
biopolymer
, as the insulator layer (gate dielectric) of a thin-film transistor, replacing the commonly used silicon.
[11]
[12]
She pioneered European research on transparent electronics, namely
thin-film transistors
based on oxide
semiconductors
, demonstrating that
oxide
materials can be used as true semiconductors.
[13]
[14]
Fortunato's paper electronics technology has applications that include
biosensors
, radiofrequency identification (
RFID
) tags in shipping, and product inventory management
[12]
[15]
Honors and awards
[
edit
]
Fortunato has received national and international awards for her work.
[16]
In 2005, she received the prize for Scientific Excellence from the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
. In 2009, she was cited by the
Portuguese Parliament
for her research. In 2010, she was awarded membership in the
Order of Prince Henry
by then-Portuguese President
Anibal Cavaco Silva
.
[17]
In 2015, she was President of
Portugal Day
.
[18]
In 2016, she was awarded the Blaise Pascal Medal in materials science by the European Academy of Sciences
[19]
and in 2017, the Czochralski award in recognition of her research work in the area of Advanced Materials Science. In 2018, she received a
European Research Council
grant worth €3.5 million, the largest grant ever awarded to a Portuguese researcher at the time of the award.
[20]
She was the recipient of the 2020
Pessoa Prize
, recognized as the most important award of the Portuguese culture.
National orders
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Short CV Elvira Fortunato"
(PDF)
.
European Commission
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
Das, Narottam, ed. (February 22, 2017).
Nanostructured Solar Cells
. InTech.
doi
:
10.5772/62516
.
ISBN
978-953-51-2935-6
.
- ^
"Elvira MC Fortunato's Publons profile"
.
publons.com
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
Inacio, Alexandra (March 23, 2022).
"Elvira Fortunato: a cientista que vai tomar conta da Ciencia e do Superior"
.
Jornal de Noticias
. Retrieved
March 24,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Elvira Fortunato | CENIMAT"
.
www.cenimat.fct.unl.pt
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Microchips made of paper: Elvira Fortunato and Rodrigo Martins named European Inventor Award 2016 finalists"
.
Advanced Science News
. May 13, 2016
. Retrieved
February 21,
2021
.
- ^
"Elvira Fortunato"
. Academia Europaea. Archived from
the original
on May 21, 2020.
- ^
ORCID.
"Elvira Fortunato (0000-0002-4202-7047)"
.
orcid.org
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Elvira Fortunato"
.
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
(in European Portuguese). September 26, 2017
. Retrieved
April 8,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Elvira Fortunato appointed as Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education"
.
fct.unl.pt
. March 24, 2022
. Retrieved
March 27,
2022
.
- ^
"Full Page Reload"
.
IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News
. Retrieved
May 20,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Martins, Rodrigo; Barquinha, Pedro; Pereira, Luis; Correia, Nuno; Goncalves, Goncalo; Ferreira, Isabel; Fortunato, Elvira (November 17, 2008).
"Write-erase and read paper memory transistor"
.
Applied Physics Letters
.
93
(20): 203501.
Bibcode
:
2008ApPhL..93t3501M
.
doi
:
10.1063/1.3030873
.
hdl
:
10362/3962
.
ISSN
0003-6951
.
- ^
"Research | CENIMAT"
.
www.cenimat.fct.unl.pt
. Archived from
the original
on June 5, 2020
. Retrieved
May 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Research activities | Elvira Fortunato"
.
docentes.fct.unl.pt
. Retrieved
May 11,
2020
.
- ^
"Microchips made of paper: Elvira Fortunato and Rodrigo Martins named European Inventor Award 2016 finalists"
.
Advanced Science News
. May 13, 2016
. Retrieved
May 11,
2020
.
- ^
"Recent Awards | Elvira Fortunato"
.
docentes.fct.unl.pt
. Retrieved
May 11,
2020
.
- ^
"Ordens Nacionais - Pagina Oficial das Ordens Honorificas Portuguesas"
.
Orden Honorificas Portuguesas
. Archived from
the original
on September 1, 2020
. Retrieved
September 1,
2020
.
- ^
"Professor Elvira Fortunato presides 10th June Celebrations"
.
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
. fct.unl.pt. Archived from
the original
on September 1, 2020
. Retrieved
September 1,
2020
.
- ^
"EURASC Awardees"
.
European Academy of Sciences
. www.eurasc.org. Archived from
the original
on August 7, 2020
. Retrieved
September 1,
2020
.
- ^
"Professor Elvira Fortunato, Vice-Rector of NOVA, Receives Maximum Amount ERC Advanced Grant for the First Time Awarded to Portugal"
.
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
. www.unl.pt. April 4, 2018. Archived from
the original
on April 24, 2018
. Retrieved
September 1,
2020
.
- ^
"Cidadaos Nacionais Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas"
.
Pagina Oficial das Ordens Honorificas Portuguesas
. Retrieved
March 24,
2022
.
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